10-27-14
So this week went better for us and we were able to keep a lot more busy working and teaching. We met with that family that we found a few weeks ago and talked about baptism and they all seemed really excited about it, but the mom has a concern about the age of accountability. We told her that it was eight years old and she feels that that is not old enough to be able to make a decision like baptism. She said that she would pray about it though, so hopefully, she will get her answer. We are going to meet with them again later this week.
We had some cool finding opportunities this week by knocking on some doors around the church and offering church tours. We found a few people who might be interested and set up some appointments. We also walked down along the bay with all of the piers and talked to some people who were fishing and crabbing. We are going to try fishing next p-day down by that area.
Sundays have been a lot crazier at church because we are following up with every member that we have extended invitations to to do missionary work and seeing what we can do to help them. We also have been interviewing some members about missionary work and seeing what they can do to invite people. It's definitely uncomfortable and different, but it works. Before we started implementing "Sunday Gameday" the most the mission ever received for referrals on a given Sunday was 30. Last week the mission received over 700 referrals on Sunday!
Last Sunday the Bishop asked me to talk about my mission in sacrament. He wanted me to speak about what lead me to my mission and what blessings I have been able to realize. I talked about those two points for about the first five minutes of my talk, but then I saved the last five to talk about member missionary work. I referred to Elder Ballard's talks given on missionary work back in April 2014 and October 2013. I think it was pretty straight forward and to the point that we need them to help us find people to teach. I got a lot of compliments after the meeting, but no one mentioned anything about missionary work. Haha. I hope that I was able to help someone in the meeting know how to be involved in missionary work.
We have transfer calls coming us this next Sunday, so I will find out then if I will be staying or leaving. My guess is that I'm leaving, though. We do have a chili cookoff and a trunk or treat activity coming up this Wednesday. Elder Swallow and I are going to make some hot chili with ghost peppers from one of the less active members that we are teaching. Our ward mission leader told us that if we end up doing that, that we have to put a caution sign on it because he doesn't want any of the old people eating it and dying. I'll let you know how it turns out, though. Love you all!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Challenging Week
10-20-14
It sounds like the primary program was fun to watch. You should send me some pictures of what uncle Craig's haunted houses look like, because I still don't understand what you mean by "advent house".
This week was probably the slowest and most difficult week of work that I have had in quite a few months. There have been a lot of changes taking place with the way we are working in the mission and since we dropped all of our non-progressing people, we have been struggling to find new people to teach. We ended up with 14 lessons, which I haven't gotten that low in over 8 months. Our ward mission leader wasn't too happy about it, but he understands why it was so slow for us. I think we have it more set up for ourselves this week, and we just need it to work out-haha.
This last week we found a family of five that are really interested in learning more about the church and likely joining it. We are going to be teaching them tonight and trying to set a date for baptism with them, but unless I were to stay here for one more transfer, I won't get to see them baptized. I've been here for a long time and I'm guessing that I will be transferred out of here in a couple of weeks, which would make me both sad and happy. Sad because we are starting to get some really solid people who will probably be baptized soon and happy because I think I'm ready for a new area. We have 2 1/2 more weeks in the training program and then we will be finished. We'll see what happens at that point. I hope you have an awesome week and that all goes well for you.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
It sounds like the primary program was fun to watch. You should send me some pictures of what uncle Craig's haunted houses look like, because I still don't understand what you mean by "advent house".
This week was probably the slowest and most difficult week of work that I have had in quite a few months. There have been a lot of changes taking place with the way we are working in the mission and since we dropped all of our non-progressing people, we have been struggling to find new people to teach. We ended up with 14 lessons, which I haven't gotten that low in over 8 months. Our ward mission leader wasn't too happy about it, but he understands why it was so slow for us. I think we have it more set up for ourselves this week, and we just need it to work out-haha.
This last week we found a family of five that are really interested in learning more about the church and likely joining it. We are going to be teaching them tonight and trying to set a date for baptism with them, but unless I were to stay here for one more transfer, I won't get to see them baptized. I've been here for a long time and I'm guessing that I will be transferred out of here in a couple of weeks, which would make me both sad and happy. Sad because we are starting to get some really solid people who will probably be baptized soon and happy because I think I'm ready for a new area. We have 2 1/2 more weeks in the training program and then we will be finished. We'll see what happens at that point. I hope you have an awesome week and that all goes well for you.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Mr. Handyman
10-13-14
That's so great to hear that Landon is heading off on his mission now as well as the Smith's. Have you heard how other missionaries in the ward are doing on their missions? I haven't heard anything about people like Cooper Speakman or Spencer Owens.
We had our Zone Conference Tuesday and it was held at our church meeting house. I really liked the movie, but that may be because it is the first movie that I have seen in forever. It wasn't too long, but it felt like it because we never sit and watch anything for more than 10 minutes or so. I guess the movie was really popular down here, so they are extending it's viewing until this Thursday and if it does well, then it will go to a lot more theaters. So, we are really pushing people to go see it.
This last week was a little slow for us because we are working on increasing our teaching pool and trying to find through members. Yesterday we applied "Sunday Gameday" where we set up appointments with as many members as we could to talk about missionary work. During third hour, we pulled individual priests out of class to talk to them about their missionary work and what they are doing to prepare for a mission. Doing all of this added a lot more to our Sunday routine, but it made it more effective.
This last week I also learned how to be more of a handyman. Last Monday our land-lady showed up and said that she would be inspecting our apartment today. We have always done a good job at keeping the place really clean, but there were a few things that needed to be fixed. Last week my sink broke, the towel rack fell off of the wall, and we had to replace some light fixtures that had been broken a while ago. So, for the sink, I had to buy and replace the pop-up section and clean it out. It was pretty nasty, but it was handy to learn how to do it. Then for the towel rack, we just got some caulk and resealed it to the wall where it fell out. The light fixtures were a little more costly, but we replaced those as well and now our apartment is in tip-top shape.
P.S.-I don't know if I ever told you or not, but back in May, some construction started on tearing down and rebuilding a bridge right next to our complex, and it was our route to the church that was really close and easy. For the past 5 months, they have been working on it and we have had to take a much longer alternate route that used up lot of our miles, but they finally finished it this last weekend! That was probably the highlight of my week. Haha
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
That's so great to hear that Landon is heading off on his mission now as well as the Smith's. Have you heard how other missionaries in the ward are doing on their missions? I haven't heard anything about people like Cooper Speakman or Spencer Owens.
We had our Zone Conference Tuesday and it was held at our church meeting house. I really liked the movie, but that may be because it is the first movie that I have seen in forever. It wasn't too long, but it felt like it because we never sit and watch anything for more than 10 minutes or so. I guess the movie was really popular down here, so they are extending it's viewing until this Thursday and if it does well, then it will go to a lot more theaters. So, we are really pushing people to go see it.
This last week was a little slow for us because we are working on increasing our teaching pool and trying to find through members. Yesterday we applied "Sunday Gameday" where we set up appointments with as many members as we could to talk about missionary work. During third hour, we pulled individual priests out of class to talk to them about their missionary work and what they are doing to prepare for a mission. Doing all of this added a lot more to our Sunday routine, but it made it more effective.
This last week I also learned how to be more of a handyman. Last Monday our land-lady showed up and said that she would be inspecting our apartment today. We have always done a good job at keeping the place really clean, but there were a few things that needed to be fixed. Last week my sink broke, the towel rack fell off of the wall, and we had to replace some light fixtures that had been broken a while ago. So, for the sink, I had to buy and replace the pop-up section and clean it out. It was pretty nasty, but it was handy to learn how to do it. Then for the towel rack, we just got some caulk and resealed it to the wall where it fell out. The light fixtures were a little more costly, but we replaced those as well and now our apartment is in tip-top shape.
P.S.-I don't know if I ever told you or not, but back in May, some construction started on tearing down and rebuilding a bridge right next to our complex, and it was our route to the church that was really close and easy. For the past 5 months, they have been working on it and we have had to take a much longer alternate route that used up lot of our miles, but they finally finished it this last weekend! That was probably the highlight of my week. Haha
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Sunday, October 12, 2014
General Conference is better than Christmas!!!
10-6-14
I loved General Conference! It's seriously better than Christmas to me out here! Taking two whole days to just sit and hear the leaders of the church give us council through revelation and then to teach in between the sessions is awesome. I love it! We haven't watched Meet the Mormons yet, but we are watching it tomorrow. I'm excited for it! You had asked me how many times we pray in a day. I would say that it is around 50 or so times a day. We pray for EVERYTHING!!!! Before we even get out the door in the morning, we have already prayed about 6 times. I'll have to count it one of these days and really see how many times we do pray.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
I loved General Conference! It's seriously better than Christmas to me out here! Taking two whole days to just sit and hear the leaders of the church give us council through revelation and then to teach in between the sessions is awesome. I love it! We haven't watched Meet the Mormons yet, but we are watching it tomorrow. I'm excited for it! You had asked me how many times we pray in a day. I would say that it is around 50 or so times a day. We pray for EVERYTHING!!!! Before we even get out the door in the morning, we have already prayed about 6 times. I'll have to count it one of these days and really see how many times we do pray.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
The Work is Hastening!
9-29-14
These past seven days have been busy, and different. Last Tuesday we had interviews with our Mission President up in Sarasota where we received a lot of new instruction from him, as well as the Assistants. They have been talking a lot about having a vision for the areas that we serve in, and what it is that we are really trying to shoot for as missionaries. They had us come up with a number that we prayed about for baptisms that we would have before the end of 2014. As a companionship, we determined that we could reach 4 baptisms by the end of the year. So, in order to reach our vision, they gave us areas of improvement that the mission will be focusing on as a whole. The first thing that we are no longer doing is shaking hands at the door on Sundays. Instead, we are going around and inviting every member to do missionary work that comes in our path. We are not suppose to talk to a member without leaving them some sort of commitment. The second thing is that we are no longer teaching anyone who is not progressing. We had to drop all of our investigators and less active members who were not keeping commitments so that we can focus the Lord's time on finding the "elect".
These changes have made it pretty difficult to stay busy teaching, but now we have a lot more time to be finding those who are truly prepared to hear the message of the Gospel. The first question that we are asking people on the street is if they have been baptized. This way we are getting straight to the point and we are stating our purpose from the beginning. We have already seen a lot of great blessings come from these changes. The Lord's work is truly Hastening!
The other great thing that happened this last weekend was a baptism that we had for one of our investigators, K. Smith. His wife has been a member for over two years, and now her husband has joined as a member of the church. K. already seemed like a solid member from when we first met him. He always comes out with us on splits and is always looking to serve others. He is a great example of what a member should be.
For the service itself, our Ward Mission Leader baptized him and Elder Swallow and I got to do the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. I usually don't enjoy giving talks, but I actually loved giving this one! The Spirit was strong during the service, and everything worked out great. Hopefully, we will be having more people brought into the fold of God here soon!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Here's a little big of information from Elder Whaley's companion:
On Tuesday we had the coolest experience ever! We went to our church building for wifi to send an email to our mission president and all of a sudden we hear someone knocking on a door. We open the door and this lady asks us for a Book of Mormon. Both of us are caught off guard....because no one likes to give us the time of day for the most part and now we have a random lady show up and ask for a BOM. So, we give her the BOM and she tries to give us $50 for it. We declined the money. She was completely shocked at turning down the money and started to ask more questions about our elision. We come to find out that she heard about the BOM through someone and has been looking for it for a super long time visiting several book stores. She told us that she just felt that she needs to read it. So, we were more than happy to explain to her about the BOM and what we believe in. She just kept asking questions. After an hour of talking to her about religion, we asked her for her phone number to contact her and she refused to give it to us. We gave her ours and she said she would cll us...so we'll see what happens. But, at least we planted a seed!
These past seven days have been busy, and different. Last Tuesday we had interviews with our Mission President up in Sarasota where we received a lot of new instruction from him, as well as the Assistants. They have been talking a lot about having a vision for the areas that we serve in, and what it is that we are really trying to shoot for as missionaries. They had us come up with a number that we prayed about for baptisms that we would have before the end of 2014. As a companionship, we determined that we could reach 4 baptisms by the end of the year. So, in order to reach our vision, they gave us areas of improvement that the mission will be focusing on as a whole. The first thing that we are no longer doing is shaking hands at the door on Sundays. Instead, we are going around and inviting every member to do missionary work that comes in our path. We are not suppose to talk to a member without leaving them some sort of commitment. The second thing is that we are no longer teaching anyone who is not progressing. We had to drop all of our investigators and less active members who were not keeping commitments so that we can focus the Lord's time on finding the "elect".
These changes have made it pretty difficult to stay busy teaching, but now we have a lot more time to be finding those who are truly prepared to hear the message of the Gospel. The first question that we are asking people on the street is if they have been baptized. This way we are getting straight to the point and we are stating our purpose from the beginning. We have already seen a lot of great blessings come from these changes. The Lord's work is truly Hastening!
The other great thing that happened this last weekend was a baptism that we had for one of our investigators, K. Smith. His wife has been a member for over two years, and now her husband has joined as a member of the church. K. already seemed like a solid member from when we first met him. He always comes out with us on splits and is always looking to serve others. He is a great example of what a member should be.
For the service itself, our Ward Mission Leader baptized him and Elder Swallow and I got to do the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. I usually don't enjoy giving talks, but I actually loved giving this one! The Spirit was strong during the service, and everything worked out great. Hopefully, we will be having more people brought into the fold of God here soon!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Here's a little big of information from Elder Whaley's companion:
On Tuesday we had the coolest experience ever! We went to our church building for wifi to send an email to our mission president and all of a sudden we hear someone knocking on a door. We open the door and this lady asks us for a Book of Mormon. Both of us are caught off guard....because no one likes to give us the time of day for the most part and now we have a random lady show up and ask for a BOM. So, we give her the BOM and she tries to give us $50 for it. We declined the money. She was completely shocked at turning down the money and started to ask more questions about our elision. We come to find out that she heard about the BOM through someone and has been looking for it for a super long time visiting several book stores. She told us that she just felt that she needs to read it. So, we were more than happy to explain to her about the BOM and what we believe in. She just kept asking questions. After an hour of talking to her about religion, we asked her for her phone number to contact her and she refused to give it to us. We gave her ours and she said she would cll us...so we'll see what happens. But, at least we planted a seed!
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Short Update
9-22-14
It sounds like a lot of great things are happening back home. That's awesome to hear that Vanessa was in the homecoming royalty. This week we saw a lot of great blessing and were able to get a lot of work done. I'm glad to hear that Dad is doing better, and hopefully, Sundays start going well for him. Sorry I have not been replying personally to your letters, but I have been just trying to write a nice, long letter to everyone that includes everything that happened in the past week. So far, it has saved me on time. The only downside is that I don't get any replies from anyone besides you. Haha. Elder Swallow is doing well and he definitely has a lot of support form friends and family. He has gotten about 1 to 2 packages a week so far with candy and whatever other goodies are in it. It's been nice because he doesn't eat a lot, so he splits it with me. I hope that you have a great week and I will talk to you soon.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
It sounds like a lot of great things are happening back home. That's awesome to hear that Vanessa was in the homecoming royalty. This week we saw a lot of great blessing and were able to get a lot of work done. I'm glad to hear that Dad is doing better, and hopefully, Sundays start going well for him. Sorry I have not been replying personally to your letters, but I have been just trying to write a nice, long letter to everyone that includes everything that happened in the past week. So far, it has saved me on time. The only downside is that I don't get any replies from anyone besides you. Haha. Elder Swallow is doing well and he definitely has a lot of support form friends and family. He has gotten about 1 to 2 packages a week so far with candy and whatever other goodies are in it. It's been nice because he doesn't eat a lot, so he splits it with me. I hope that you have a great week and I will talk to you soon.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Loving Training and Miracles!
9-15-14
We had a pretty great week full of fun and interesting things. This last Monday we went up to the Sarasota area for a big Zone Development day where we played some games and sports and had some training to finish it off. On Tuesday, Elder Christensen went on exchanges with me in our area to work for the day. We didn't have any appointments planned, but we ended up getting six lessons and a new investigator.
The sisters in our ward had a baptism this week for a Phillipino lady that they have been teaching and they asked if I would give the talk on baptism. The program went well and when it came time for the baptism, they called Elder Swallow and I up to be the witnesses for it. As soon as she came up out of the water, she started chanting something in Phillipino, and it sounded like she was trying to speak in tongues, so we hurried and closed the curtains. I kind of expected that she would do that, but I guess that it was probably because of her previous religious background. Haha. She was confirmed on Sunday and we were invited to stand in on the confirmation.
That same day, during third hour, Hunter Mooney received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained to the office of Priest. He had Elder Swallow do the ordination. Hunter is doing an amazing job at taking initiative to get himself to church and being active. Now his goal is to get to the temple to do baptisms.
The last big miracle that happened this weekend was back on Saturday after the baptism. We met with one of our investigators, Kevin, and talked to him about his upcoming baptism. He has been progressing so well and keeping every commitment that we leave him with. His original date was set for October 4th, but because he want to make sure that I am here for his baptism, he asked if we could move it up a week sooner to the 27th of this month. We didn't have any problems with it, so that is what we did. Now he will be getting baptized in two more weeks. I'm so excited for him!
Training is going great and I am really coming to love it! It has helped me grow a lot in regards to missionary work, and especially in my personal life and testimony of the Gospel. I love the work, and I love the Lord! I hope that you have a great week and I will hear from you soon!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
We had a pretty great week full of fun and interesting things. This last Monday we went up to the Sarasota area for a big Zone Development day where we played some games and sports and had some training to finish it off. On Tuesday, Elder Christensen went on exchanges with me in our area to work for the day. We didn't have any appointments planned, but we ended up getting six lessons and a new investigator.
The sisters in our ward had a baptism this week for a Phillipino lady that they have been teaching and they asked if I would give the talk on baptism. The program went well and when it came time for the baptism, they called Elder Swallow and I up to be the witnesses for it. As soon as she came up out of the water, she started chanting something in Phillipino, and it sounded like she was trying to speak in tongues, so we hurried and closed the curtains. I kind of expected that she would do that, but I guess that it was probably because of her previous religious background. Haha. She was confirmed on Sunday and we were invited to stand in on the confirmation.
That same day, during third hour, Hunter Mooney received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained to the office of Priest. He had Elder Swallow do the ordination. Hunter is doing an amazing job at taking initiative to get himself to church and being active. Now his goal is to get to the temple to do baptisms.
The last big miracle that happened this weekend was back on Saturday after the baptism. We met with one of our investigators, Kevin, and talked to him about his upcoming baptism. He has been progressing so well and keeping every commitment that we leave him with. His original date was set for October 4th, but because he want to make sure that I am here for his baptism, he asked if we could move it up a week sooner to the 27th of this month. We didn't have any problems with it, so that is what we did. Now he will be getting baptized in two more weeks. I'm so excited for him!
Training is going great and I am really coming to love it! It has helped me grow a lot in regards to missionary work, and especially in my personal life and testimony of the Gospel. I love the work, and I love the Lord! I hope that you have a great week and I will hear from you soon!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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